HD Hyundai has established the new drug development company AMC Science, accelerating its bio business, which is viewed as a new growth engine for the group. Chung Joong-sun, vice chairman of HD Hyundai, is expanding the bio new drug business as a core future revenue source for the group, following shipbuilding, marine, and construction machinery. Some in the business community noted that HD Hyundai's exploration into the bio new business closely resembles that of Samsung Group.
According to the business community on the 11th, HD Hyundai's shipbuilding intermediate holding company, HD Korean Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, has established AMC Science and acquired 100% equity, integrating it as a subsidiary on the 29th of last month. The equity value is 27 billion won. The Asan Foundation, a public corporation of HD Hyundai, also invested 5 billion won in AMC Science's capital increase on the 9th of this month. This investment involved acquiring 14,210 common shares and 35,790 convertible preferred shares. Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the Asan Foundation, is the largest shareholder of HD Hyundai.
AMC Science initially launched as an in-house independent company under the Asan Foundation's Asan Medical Center. The name AMC is derived from the English name of Asan Medical Center. AMC Science plans to utilize the clinical research of Asan Medical Center to engage in new drug research and development. A business insider noted, “It seems vice chairman Chung is broadening the scope of new businesses at the holding company level after his promotion.”
Corporate registration shows that Bu Ji-hong, CEO of HD Hyundai Future Partners, will serve as the CEO of AMC Science. Lee Sang-hyuk, executive director at HD Korean Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (cost and accounting division), and Namgung Hoon, executive director (HR division), have also been appointed as internal directors. HD Hyundai Future Partners is a subsidiary responsible for discovering and investing in new businesses, particularly collaborating with Asan Medical Center to explore new investments in healthcare bio.
The vice president is effectively overseeing the bio new drug project led by vice chairman Chung. The vice president is from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where vice chairman Chung also worked, and has accumulated experience in the bio sector at Celltrion and Chaimed Group, joining HD Hyundai at the end of 2021. The vice president's predecessor, Kim Sung-jun, current CEO of HD Korean Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, also worked alongside vice chairman Chung at BCG.
In the business community, there are many observations that HD Hyundai's investment in bio new drugs is quite similar to Samsung Group's actions. Just as HD Hyundai utilized the Asan Foundation and Asan Medical Center for the establishment of AMC, Samsung Group has seen its subsidiaries, including Samsung Life Insurance Public Corporation, invest in the bio company **Incell**, founded by a professor at Samsung Medical Center. Incell was founded in 2018 by Professor Jang Jong-wook, who is also a faculty member, and was listed on the KOSDAQ market in August of this year.
Incell is developing stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease associated with the Samsung family. Samsung Life Insurance Public Corporation and other subsidiaries of the group, including **Samsung Life** and **Samsung Fire**, have heavily invested in Incell. Samsung Group's future business planning unit acts as a control tower, concentrating on cultivating bio business as a future revenue source and managing the Samsung Life Science Fund for bio investments, while HD Hyundai's management planning office is responsible for discovering and investing in new businesses at the group level. Kim Jong-chul, head of the management planning division at HD Hyundai, was appointed as an internal director of HD Hyundai Future Partners earlier this year. HD Hyundai is also investing in startups in the bio and healthcare sectors through a fund established in collaboration with Mirae Asset Group.
Vice chairman Chung has actively participated in group management, initiating efforts to develop the bio and healthcare business. While serving as the head of management support at HD Hyundai in 2018, he established the healthcare big data company Asan Kakao Medical Data in partnership with Kakao Group, and in 2020 he launched a future committee focused on bio and artificial intelligence. In 2021, he acquired Mediplus Solution through HD Hyundai Future Partners and recruited CEO Bu Ji-hong to establish AMC Bio, a new drug research and development company.
A business insider noted, “The vice president is playing a role in executing the bio business that vice chairman Chung envisions,” adding, “It seems he is well-versed in the future business strategies of other groups, given his consulting background.”